


Trouble Sleeping, Trouble Waking Up

by goosebxrry



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Hermitship, Hermitshipping, So yeah, but nonetheless, dont ship real people, grels, im gonna slowly post my other works here now, its not actually too hard, its not super shippy, its pretty subtle tho, this is a work i posted on tumblr a while back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24707365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goosebxrry/pseuds/goosebxrry
Summary: After Wels is forgotten in Season Six, he doesn’t sleep as often as he should— but you have to crash at some time. Its the waking up that’s difficult.
Relationships: Grian/Welsknight
Comments: 6
Kudos: 104





	Trouble Sleeping, Trouble Waking Up

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally posted on my tumblr so it’s prewritten. i’m probably gonna be posting more of my other works here since ao3 is a nicer platform than tumblr for writing, so yeah— enjoy!

Wels sighed, leaning against the cool glass of his window, the bite of the cold just about keeping him awake. That was the plan.

His helmet was in his hands but the rest of his armour was on, protecting him from... he wasn’t sure. His house was lit up, the mobs outside couldn’t possibly get in— he knew it was irrational.

The knight had always suffered from his fear of the dark. As far as his knowledge went, nobody knew— it wasn’t like it had mattered until recently. After being left behind in the previous season, though, he didn’t want to take another months-long nap and be forgotten.

So now he refused to sleep, but hated the night.

A recipe for disaster. He wasn’t even used to staying up.

And disaster it brought. He hadn’t slept in days, staying up all night by a window as he impatiently waited for the sun to rise again. He could barely even move anymore from the exhaustion he’d brought upon himself.

He shifted, his armour clinking as he stretched. The clock on the wall informed him that he still had hours to go. A zombie groaned from somewhere outside and he shivered.

His eyelids were starting to droop when something banged on the door. Wels sat straight up, fumbling for his helmet as he tried put it on. His hand brushed the hilt of his sword as he got up. He wasn’t necessarily afraid of the zombie at his door, but better than sorry.

If one got in, then multiple would follow, and he didn’t want to end up pressed against a wall with rotten teeth biting him and blunt nails scraping against whatever exposed skin they could find. Even just the thought alone gave him chills.

At least his door was shut.

And then it swung open. It was a little strange that it wasn’t burst open with a splintering crack, but it was enough to make him jump. He started to make his way down the stairs, his sword held in front of him as he went over his training in his head.

“Wels? You here?” He froze. That wasn’t a zombie. “Your door was unlocked...”

Wels stumbled down the rest of the steps, trying to sheathe his sword. He missed his mark about three times before deciding to just place it on a table.

“Hey, Grian,” Wels smiled drowsily.

The two had gotten to know each other in secret during the prior season’s Civil War. Mumbo hadn’t been the only team Star hermit Grian had fraternized with.

Grian dropped a shulker box lightly on the floor, glancing at the knight. He’d been around Xisuma enough to recognize the effects not sleeping would have on someone.

“You feeling alright? You look exhausted.” Grian mentioned it offhandedly, hoping he wouldn’t have to actually tell Wels directly to get some rest. He was vaguely aware of the paranoia Wels had picked up after being abandoned in Season Six, but he wasn’t aware of the extent.

“I’m okay, I’ve just been staying up late to work on the house,” Wels’ lie was slightly muffled through the visor of his helmet, but Grian had plenty of experience with that as well.

Grian could tell Wels was lying. Lying wasn’t really the elf’s thing.

But he kept quiet for the time being. “Well, make sure you sleep sometime soon.” He paused, then gestured to the shulker box on the floor. “I brought some terracotta for you, I know you use it a lot for roofing and I had some lying around.”

Wels smiled softly behind his helmet, grateful for the gift but a little too tired to form a coherent sentence. He was well aware of that fact and didn’t even try.

But Grian caught on anyway, rolling his eyes and taking a few steps forward. He tugged off Wels’ helmet, which was definitely lighter than he’d expected, smiling softly as Wels reached up in a panic to grab it. His long hair was disheveled and the rings under his pale blue eyes were dark.

Wels sighed defeatedly, closing his eyes.

“I could tell you weren’t sleeping the second you tripped down the stairs,” Grian sighed. “What’s going on? You’re usually pretty good at keeping a healthy schedule.”

He inhaled softly, opening his eyes again. He met Grian’s turquoise eyes, a pang of guilt stabbing him. Here he was, a grown man, refusing to sleep like a little kid. Grian had come to drop off supplies and now he was having to parent him.

“I- I’m sorry,” Wels choked out an apology. Grian’s eyes went wide.

“What? No, Wels, don’t apologize,” Grian grabbed his arm, his other hand reaching up to cup Wels’ face, his thumb trailing upwards to wipe away the tears that had threatened to spill over. “You... It’s okay,” 

Wels sighed again, internally upset with himself for breaking but knowing Grian wouldn’t say anything to any of the other hermits. He could trust Grian, he knew that.

Grian shifted his grip, pulling Wels into a hug. He leaned into it. Between the mixture of the fondness the hug held and the exhaustion he was sinking into, he couldn’t help it.

Grian wrapped both arms around him now, shifting his weight.

“You should get some rest,” Grian said quietly. Wels sighed, reluctantly starting to pull away from the embrace so he could walk up the stairs when he felt his feet lift off the ground.

He yelped, chuckling nervously as Grian, somehow, picked him up. He wasn’t too heavy, but he knew his armour was.

Then again, Grian was a builder and did plenty of heavy lifting. Hell, he lifted shulker box after shulker box of dark prismarine up to the roof of his mansion all the way from the shopping district. It just surprised him, considering how much taller he was.

But he noticed Wels’ struggles and put him down lightly, a worried chuckle escaping him.

“I probably should have asked first, sorry,” He smiled nervously. Wels shook his head, laughing softly.

“It’s alright, it just surprised me. I can walk, though.” Wels sent him a smile. “I’ll have to take off my armour, anyway.”

He walked back up the staircase, Grian falling lightly into step. He started taking off his wrist guards as he arrived, placing them onto a table next to his armour stand. Grian had grabbed his helmet before they went upstairs and he placed it onto the stand.

Wels had taken off most of the armour, leaving his chestplate for last. He fumbled with the latches, his tiredness catching back up to him as he was unable to remove it. Grian finally reached over to help him, unlatching them and putting the steel chestplate onto the stand.

He sighed in relief as he straightened himself out, rolling his shoulders slightly despite itching to lie down. He was only slightly worried about being so tired and equally unguarded.

Grian nudged him towards his bed, and although his body was practically screaming for him to sleep, he felt anxiety dripping down his spine. What if he didn’t wake up? What if he slept through the rest of season seven?

“Everything okay?” Grian’s voice was laced with gentle concern as he noticed Wels’ sudden discomfort.

“...I can’t do this.”

“Pardon?”

Wels turned around, tears welling up in his eyes. He didn’t want to miss any more, he didn’t want to loose any more possible time with his friends, he didn’t want them to just forget he existed—

But how did he put that into words?

Grian wrapped him into another squeeze, not knowing exactly what was happening but trying his best to just calm Wels down. Most likely, the sleep deprivation wasn’t helping, either.

“I don’t want to fall asleep, I don’t want to sleep for another month,” He sobbed quietly into Grian’s shoulder, his chest shaking. He couldn’t remember the last time he had done this in front of someone else, cried into a shoulder, been comforted while it happened. “I don’t want to be forgotten,”

“I wouldn’t forget you,” Grian reassured him. “I can’t believe I did the first time, but everyone did. It wasn’t normal, something was up when that happened, Scar’s crystals broke whatever that spell was and all of us felt absolutely terrible.”

Wels forced a nod.

“It won’t happen again, I promise you that I wouldn’t forget.” He breathed in quietly to continue. “And I know that you’ll wake up. That was unheard of, your... coma.” He hesitated to say the final word.

Wels shuddered as he tried to block out the memories.

He’d been so scared, hours turning to weeks as he searched for someone, anyone, visiting dusty bases and abandoned shops, New Hermitville quieter than he’d ever seen it.

He hadn’t even wanted to believe Cub’s story when he’d explained what had happened.

Grian loosened his grip as he continued to gently direct Wels towards his bed. He reluctantly complied, laying down and pulling the covers over his chest. Grian took a step away.

“Do you mind staying?” Wels quickly spoke up, trying to keep himself from  
sounding too needy. Grian turned around.

“I was just taking off my shoes, I wasn’t planning on it,” Grian smiled warmly at him. He finished untying his laces and pushed the shoes to the side, crawling under the covers next to Wels.

Wels felt an arm drape over him and he closed his eyes, his thoughts going fuzzy as he let sleep embrace him. He just about managed to mumble out the words, “Wake me up when you do,” before he completely fell into the perfect dark of unconsciousness.

▽

The next morning came in what felt like seconds to Grian, and he opened his eyes. He blinked to clear his vision, a smile creeping onto his face as he regained his senses and felt Wels’ arms wrapped around him.

He figured he’d let him sleep a few minutes longer while he himself woke up. Frankly, the builder quite enjoyed the feeling of Wels’ arms around him, his heartbeat against him and chest subtly rising and falling.

Possibly three minutes passed and Grian finally moved to stretch, carefully moving Wels’ arms off of his chest. He didn’t stir, probably still tired. Half of  
Grian wanted to let him sleep a little longer, but a promise was a promise.

Grian glanced back at the sleeping knight, gently shaking his shoulder to wake him.

He gently shook his shoulder, trying to wake him up.

He shook his shoulder. He should’ve woken up.

Gentle shakes turned panicked and almost desperate as Grian’s throat closed up. Wels wasn’t even stirring. The only sign that he was even alive was the slow rise and fall of his chest.

A minute of this passed.

Grian was full-on sobbing now, on the verge of calling Xisuma, drowning in guilt and panic with his face buried in Wels’ chest when he finally felt the breathing pattern change.

He froze.

“...Grian?”

He looked up, his eyes wide. Wels’ eyes were still drowsy, but they were scared, confused, and filled with concern. He shifted to sit up, but was immediately pushed down again as Grian tackled him into a hug.

“Oh my god, I couldn’t wake you up for a minute, I thought you were going to get stuck like that again and—“ He let out a muffled sob, the terror translating to... whatever this was.

Wels felt worry pooling within him, but he tried to push it away for the time being. He wrapped his arms around Grian, rubbing comforting circles inbetween his shoulder blades.

Grian sighed shakily, melting into Wels’ chest as he let the panic from only moments earlier subside. Wels was awake, he was okay, he was fine.

Grian’s breath rattled softly his chest as he slowly regained control. He sat up shakily, forcing a smile. He hadn’t been able to wake Wels up, sure, but he’d done it himself, and now he was awake nonetheless. Still, it was strange that he wasn’t reacting to Grian’s attempts.

“Maybe you should talk to Xisuma,” Grian said, his voice quiet. Wels nodded, his eyebrows furrowing together already as he imaged how it would go down.

He exhaled softly, shifting to sit up.

“Yeah, I’ll have a chat with him. Maybe he can fix this.”

▽

Grian was lacing up his shoes at the doorway while Wels finished putting his armour on again, the heavy weight of the iron giving him a sense of security rather than the exhaustion from the night before.

“I’ll see you later,” Grian smiled up at him as he stood up, opening the door. Wels returned the smile, taking a step forward and pulling the other builder into a hug.

Grian squeezed him back before he let go, mumbling something about his mansion. Wels let go as he stepped outside.

“Visit soon,” Wels called with a smile. Grian yelled something in response, but his words were lost to the wind as he took off in a flurry of rockets. Wels smiled softly to himself as he finished putting on his armour on, sheathing his sword and stepping outside to find Xisuma.

He took off with a few rockets, soaring above the forest as he made his way towards Xisuma’s jungle, a twinge of worry forming in his stomach.

It’d been fine. This would be okay. Xisuma would figure it out and fix it, just like always

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading guys! hope you liked it, have a good day/night!


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